Syllabus

Instructor: Aarati Akkapeddi

Zoom ID: 756 460 4236

https://pratt.zoom.us/j/7564604236

Office hours: By Appointment

Lecture: 1:30-5:50pm EST, Wed

🐛 Course Description

This course introduces computational thinking and how to use a programming language to generate form, animation and interaction. It aims to provide both a conceptual framework to understand the digital medium, and the practical skills to integrate computational tools into the creative process across a range of applications. The course is structured around two main blocks: The first block introduces the fundamentals of computer programming and the second block focuses on five different computational approaches to generate form: repetition, transformation, parametrization, visualization and simulation, as discussed in the book Form + Code (Reas and McWilliams, 2010). Learning a programming language is as difficult as learning any other language. It takes years of practice and continuous effort. This course is conceived as a crash course for students interested in acquiring tools, processes and skills to incorporate coding and computational thinking into their workflows in a fun and creative way. While it would be unrealistic to expect students to master code by the end of the term, this course should spark curiosity, open up new avenues of investigation and expand students’ understanding of media and communication.

💿 Course Goals

To develop an appreciation of computational thinking in the creation of visual form.
To understand computation as an exploratory, iterative process, as well as a tool integrated in the creative workflow.
To develop the ability to be a self-learner by studying and adapting open source code.
To understand computation’s affordances and constraints, and how to utilize it across mediums and formats.

🏡 Learning Objectives

Use the essential features of programming languages to develop and implement computer-based solutions to problems.
Understand and apply different computational approaches to generate form, providing for and applying user interaction and event-driven execution.
Trace the execution of code by keeping track of the values of variables through a short series of computa- tions, including branches, loops, and method calls

📚 Readings

<aside> 📌 All readings will be distributed. No reading material needs to be purchased. List subject to change.

</aside>

Required Texts

🐣 Software

Sublime Text
Google Chrome [Note: If you are unable to download Chrome due to your geographic location, let me know and we can figure something out.]